Most conventional remote control devices for video call devices rely on a simple infrared remote communication device with fixed buttons and a static layout of controls. Such remote control devices are designed in such a way that they can communicate with any and all identical destination devices simultaneously. This is accomplished by broadcasting a one-way stream of data from the remote to any listening devices.
A conventional video call device normally consists of one or two video monitors, a video camera, an optional document camera, a microphone array, and an infrared (IR) remote control device. Most video call devices utilize a simple infrared remote control device. Since these remote control devices transmit button presses as broadcasts to all listening devices, they are unable to target specific video call devices to control, and also are unable to receive feedback from the video call devices.
Most modern remote control devices do not provide reconfigurable screens that are dictated by the controlled device. This means that even though a remote control device can reconfigure its display or the underlying value for each of its buttons, this reconfiguration is driven by the remote control device itself, and not by the controlled device. The reason for this is the simple one-way communication that most remote control devices have with their controlled device.
Applications that have been written for mobile electronic devices such as smart phones to replace dedicated remote control devices tend to function almost identically to the remote control devices they were meant to replace. Such applications broadcast one-way data streams from the remote control device to the controlled device, providing simple button presses that represent the buttons that would have been pressed on a dedicated remote control device. Because these simple applications are merely replacements of existing remote control devices, they tend not to take advantage of other resources that are available on the mobile electronic devices.
Current video calling solutions generally require that the cameras and microphones used during the video call be managed by the local video call device. Therefore, alternate camera feeds and audio sources can not easily be added and removed from a video call. Video call devices usually have a fixed number of cameras and microphones for use during a video call. With a static number of cameras available it can be very challenging to coordinate a collaboration session where camera and microphone placement may need to change, or the passing of control of the media streams is needed.